Wings
by Neleam
Summary: Hermione Granger has a secret that she's keeping from everyone. If the ministry ever found out that she had a massive set of wings then she'd get kicked out of school. So why is she trusting Draco Malfoy with a secret she won't even tell her best friends. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are in bold font.

* * *

For some reason, it always came back to the sky for him. It might have had something to do with his mother's fascination with divination or simply the fact that he was named for one of the constellations. Regardless, looking at the sky reminded him of how small he truly was in comparison to everything else out there and that, regardless of the stress of his problems, worse things have happened. Draco looked up again, staring off at Scorpio and naming the stars within the constellation.

He was staring at one, struggling to remember the name his mother had given it when it disappeared quickly before suddenly reappearing. It was as if something large had flown in front of it. Draco slowly scanned the sky, watching to see if it would happen again. He knew there were large creatures that lived in the forbidden forest but most flying ones would be asleep at this time of night. Luckily, the moon was full which shed some light on school grounds. Draco had nearly given up and was about to turn in for the night, obviously seeing things that weren't there, when it happened again, only this time it had blocked light from a series of castle windows. Draco waited and watched for another twenty minutes before finally giving up on. It wasn't in the cards for him to see the creature again tonight.

The following night, Draco returned to the Astronomy tower, per usual, after a long evening in the Room of Requirements. He had spent the entire day there, being a Sunday. He had been going through advanced arithmancy books, hoping to find something that would assist him with fixing the vanishing cabinet and had finally decided to call it quits around ten. He scanned the sky, hoping that the creature from the previous night would reappear. There were clouds scattered throughout the night sky and Draco thought that would be a hindrance but when he did finally spot a large figure in the sky, he was actually able to keep track of it. He couldn't make out any details on the large black mass moving fluidly through the sky but he could tell it had a large wingspan in comparison to its body length. It seemed as if the creature was just enjoying itself on a flight, possibly stretching its wings.

Every night for a week, Draco returned to the Astronomy tower after exhausting himself in his research for the vanishing cabinet and every night he would spot the figure flying through the sky. It wasn't until Tuesday night that Draco realized he might be able to get a better view of the creature if he himself were flying. He brought his racing broom with him that night and waited until he caught sight of the figure before mounting it and taking off. Just like when he would finally catch sight of the golden snitch, he fought to maintain sight of the figure. True the figure seemed to be huge in comparison to the snitch, but it was nearly pitch black at this time of night in the country side. He had gotten within a dozen or so meters of the figure when it must have heard him. The creature curved up and disappeared.

Draco turned his head in all directions and sat frozen on his broom for nearly ten minutes before finally heading back to the astronomy tower. He must have scared the creature off. The weird thing was though, when he finally got a close enough look at it, the body seemed to be human.

Little did he know that the creature had taken a spot in a line of gargoyles along the castle's roof. She watched him as he wildly looked around, trying to spot her. She was lucky that she had finally realized she was being followed. Apparently she had been far more careless than normal and had been caught. And of all people to catch her, it had to be Draco Malfoy. Who knew what would happen if he realized her secret. He'd probably go to the ministry and report her, or worse, he'd use the information against her and she'd have to reveal all she knew to him to keep him satisfied. And even if her friends were wrong, like she thought, he was still the son of a notorious death eater and the information that he could get out of her would destroy any hope in the war.

The girl crouched on the edge of the roof for another thirty minutes, making sure Draco had given up on finding her. She was going to have to stop flying for a while, hopefully Malfoy would give up the chase and she would be safe. He tended to get bored easily, or rather his reputation suggested as much. She quickly glided down to the ground and cast a concealment charm on herself before slipping through the main doors of the castle and making her way to her dorm for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Draco brought his broom to the tower the next night and stayed out for two hours waiting for the creature but never saw it. The same thing happened the following night. Frustrated that he had scared the creature off, Draco left for the dungeons only to find his mind racing with thoughts of how to go about finding the creature again.

Those thoughts left his mind during classes the next day. He worked to maintain his expressionless mask while multitasking in each of his classes. He'd listen to the teachers occasionally and write down the basic facts while brainstorming and working on arithmancy in a concealed notebook. He thought he had struck upon something and went to work on the cabinet immediately after classes. He'd be able to work late, considering it was a Friday.

Draco had worked so late that he passed out in the Room of Requirements, never making it up to the tower to distract his stressed mind. His new idea hadn't caused any change in the cabinet. When he woke on Saturday morning, he decided to take a break and work on his studies for the day. He was falling further and further behind Granger, and he did need to at least try to keep up appearances. Draco went down to the dungeons to get cleaned up and grab his textbooks. He went to the library for a short period of time before leaving due to the number of students crowding the place.

The astronomy tower was always relaxing and few students willingly made the long trek up the staircases if they didn't have to. Draco luckily found himself alone on the tower again and spread himself out on the floor, working on various essays that he had been putting off. When he got to his care of magical creatures work he thought about the creature he saw the other night. Pulling out a small journal, he started sketching from what little he had been able to see of the creature. The figure was human, he could tell that much and its wingspan was impressive, nearly three times the figures height. The wings had also appeared to be more avian than mammalian but it had been rather dark. It was simply a guess at this point.

Draco set his sketch aside and sat for a while, watching the clouds rolling along the sky. He wasn't sure why he wanted to figure out what this creature was, it didn't affect him in the least and he had much bigger problems to deal with but something was pulling him to do this. It was like a magnet drew him to the astronomy tower night after night. Draco pulled out his creatures textbook and flipped through it, trying to find any connection to what he had seen but came up empty handed. He would probably need to search through the library resources later that week.

Draco shook his head to refocus on his school work. He had finished with two subjects already and had an essay to write for transfiguration, a number of problems to solve for arithmancy, and a report due for potions. Arithmancy would take him all of twenty minutes, considering he was doing an independent study of sorts. He actually was surpassing the mudblood in two subjects now, arithmancy and potions. Though Potter was beating the both of them in potions, which was honestly even more of a hit to his pride. At this point he was used to Granger beating him in nearly every subject but Potter was never competition save for socially and on the quidditch field.

Draco gripped his quill tighter at the thought of quidditch. He was still frustrated that he had given quidditch up but he simply didn't have time for it this year. He would have loved any excuse to push Potter around, particularly with the way he had been following him around lately, but practices took too much out of him. He needed to spend every waking minute focused on his task and remaining sane.

And keeping himself fed, he thought as his stomach complained that it hadn't gotten nourishment in nearly eight hours now. Draco reluctantly packed his things and made his way down to the Great Hall, hoping to have avoided the lunch rush, and possibly the grabby hands of a certain Pansy Parkinson. He was out of luck on that front and ate as quickly as possible before retreating back to the astronomy tower to get through the rest of his course work. Draco worked for the rest of the day and was appreciative when the sun sunk below the horizon. Draco looked at the parchment and textbooks spread around him and realized he had finished up with everything that was due in the next week. He rolled the various parchment up and pulled out his charms textbook to reread the section they were working on this upcoming week.

Draco glanced up at the sky between sections and realized the sun had fully set. And there was a figure doing flips and loops in the sky. Draco quickly shut his textbook and ran down to the Room of Requirements where he had last left his broom. He made it back to the tower and was out of breath but quickly scanned the sky and found the figure again. It seemed to be showing off and playing around this time, something it had never done before. Draco mounted his broom and took off, chasing the figure down and catching up to it before long. But of course, the creature veered upward yet again, just like last time, and Draco lost sight of it. He sat and watched the horizon, looking for any sign of movement whatsoever. He wasn't expecting what happened next.

All of a sudden, it felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured on top of him and he gasped in shock, he heard loud, feminine laughter above him and looked up just in time to see the figure flying off. He didn't even stop to pull his wand out and dry off, instead taking off and chasing after the creature. He followed right behind her. She kept turning and doing tricks, making it so he was never flying next to her. She took him all over campus and he was able to make out several more features than before. He was right about the avian wings, she had large dark feathers. And she was definitely human. She was barefoot and wearing a pair of tight pants, along with a tight long sleeve shirt with a large hole where her wings connected between her shoulder blades. Her hair was in a long, thick braid. Overall, she looked to be dressed to decrease her drag force while maximizing her range of motion. Clearly, she was an intelligent creature.

The girl looked over her shoulder briefly, making sure her companion was still behind her. She had tried to stay inside but her wings were aching from disuse. She had to take the chance today and she figured out a plan that would keep Draco from discovering her identity. As long as he didn't see her face, he wouldn't be able to figure out who she was. I mean, she didn't even know if he realized that she was a fellow student. And he certainly had never seen her in clothing that hugged her figure. If she played to his competitive side then she could have some fun too. She'd race him around campus and he should stay satisfied.

It was getting late now, Draco was growing tired but he remained focused on chasing the creature. However, she was also getting tired and finally pulled up so that she disappeared from sight. Draco looked around for a few minutes before realizing the message. He made his way to the astronomy tower and made the long way down to the dungeons before collapsing on his bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Draco actually enjoyed the following weeks and looked forward to his nights flying with this creature. He would still spend a few hours each night experimenting with the cabinet but he left at ten each night and without fail he was able to find his flying partner. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed flying until he started this unlikely friendship of sorts. The creature never talked to him, he wasn't even sure if it could, but it certainly communicated with him. The creature made it clear that he was to follow her and he was not allowed to lead. Certain nights they wouldn't race but would play a game of dares, each pushing the others limits with various tricks.

Draco was walking through the castle during these weeks when he noticed a large black feather in the hallway. He quickly bent down and picked it up to inspect it. If he wasn't mistaken, he would say it was large enough to belong to a hippogriff or another large flying creature. But how on earth did it get inside the castle? He put the feather inside of his satchel, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind as he made his way to the library to work on his defense against the dark arts essay. Draco claimed a table with his work before going through the library to grab a few books. He was pulling one off the shelf when he saw something out of his peripheral vision. He turned in time to see a large black feather floating gradually down to the ground. He walked over and bent down before picking it up. He looked around, hell, he even looked up before standing and staring at the feather. He walked up and down a few aisles and found a variety of students, even saw Granger going to sit down at a table, but he didn't find any explanation for the feather.

However, on his way back to his table, he found another feather sitting at the bottom of a bookshelf. With a new found determination, Draco shelved the books he had pulled and made his way to the care of magical creatures section. He pulled a book that looked helpful and made his way back to his table down the potions aisle. He put the feather out in front of him as well as the new sketch he had made earlier this week. He flipped through the book before making a frustrated noise and storming back to the section and shelving it. He pulled another book and returned to his seat, only to find Granger shelving a book on his aisle.

"Get lost, mudblood." Hermione rolled her eyes glancing at the book he was holding. Draco pushed past her to his seat.

"That book won't get you anywhere." Malfoy looked back at her and narrowed his eyes.

"As if I would ever listen to you."

"Suit yourself; I don't care if you waste your time." Hermione turned and disappeared further into the library, Draco scowling after her. She was right though, twenty minutes later he was running his fingers through his hair in frustration. He glanced over at his sketch before doing a double take. He could have sworn that he had done the sketch in black in white. The clothing was now colored in. There was an electric blue pattern down the side of the pants and the shirt was neon green. Draco sat back and swore. Whatever he had been flying with had some way of getting in the castle without anyone realizing it. Or, and this was the more logical thought, they had a way of hiding in plain sight. Whatever, or rather whoever, he had been flying with probably interacted with him regularly. He was no longer faced with determining what, but rather who?

Draco went back to the astronomy tower every night for the following week and simply watched. At one point the creature did a flyby of the tower, tempting him to go out and fly with her but he just shook his head and watched. Hermione watched him as well; curious as to what he was thinking. She had clearly thrown him through a loop. She wasn't sure what she was thinking, trusting the Slytherin prince and possible death eater with this of all secrets but the last few weeks had been some of the most relaxing ever. She had finally been able to enjoy flying with another person and he was truly skilled at flying.

It wasn't just about quidditch or speed for him. She had quickly realized that he knew tricks and various techniques that would never appear in a match. The race was just as much fun as the various dares they had been making. She was very peeved that she was disappointed that he wasn't flying with her anymore. She didn't spend much time in the sky on these nights, simply spending a quarter hour stretching her wings versus spending nearly two hours with him pushing her body to the limit and nearly crashing into some of the taller trees in the forbidden forest on several occasions.

Hermione watched him during classes, he was far quieter than he had been in previous years and she could tell he wasn't eating. She wasn't sure why and she wished that she didn't believe Harry when he made his arguments for him being a death eater. The attack on Katie and the fact that Draco hadn't shown up to fly that night couldn't simply be a coincidence. Add to that the fact that he looked severely depressed the next day. It shocked her that Harry hadn't picked up on that fact. Maybe it was because she was seeing him through new eyes. He seemed so relaxed when they had been flying, so alive, but then he would show up to the Great Hall the next morning and look dead to the world. He didn't appear to care what any of the teachers had to say. He took notes but it seemed like he was always multitasking during class.

She hadn't given up on getting him to fly with her again though. Hermione gathered all the feathers from around her dorm room that she had shed and shoved them in the pocket of her robes, determined with her new plan. Whenever he was following her to class she would drop a feather and watch over her shoulder, making sure he picked up every single one. It took nearly two dozen feathers before she finally heard him let out a frustrated growl. Hermione's face took on an uncharacteristic smirk. There was no denying it; he'd be flying with her tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Draco had spent the last two weeks studying every single person in the school. He had determined that whoever it was, most certainly wasn't a staff member, none of them fit the body shape that he had been following every night. Unfortunately, the uniforms for the students were horribly ill fitting and Draco wasn't able to narrow his options much. He knew that whoever it was had long hair, which eliminated a few students, though most of the girls wore their hair long. He had also been able to eliminate some of the girls by their night time activities and his housemates' boasting. Most of the younger students were out because they simply weren't tall enough, and he'd guessed that the creature had gone through puberty already and her wings were fully developed. Unfortunately he had a sneaking suspicion that it was either a Ravenclaw due to the number of feathers he found in the library. It could also be one of the more studious pupils which eliminated nearly every girl in Slytherin, though most of them had already been eliminated due to the earlier mention boasting.

Draco had started flirting with nearly every Ravenclaw girl he could. He worked them up and then eventually felt up their back. If it was one of the Ravenclaws, they clearly had some way of making it so he couldn't feel their wings. Draco always found some excuse to get away from the girls once he discovered they didn't posses a set of wings.

Hermione had caught what Draco was trying to do early on and barely restrained herself from laughing whenever he felt up another girl. It was rather entertaining and he was determined that who he was looking for was in Ravenclaw. Hermione was on her way down the main staircase when she spotted him hitting up a Hufflepuff 5th year. He was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle who were glancing at each other hopefully. It would appear that they had been picking up Draco's scraps. Hermione rolled her eyes when he made a move on the wide eyed girl and wrapped an arm around her back, trailing his fingers up her spine. Hermione was nearly down the staircase when she saw him withdraw from the girl and turn cold. The girl started crying and turned and fled down the nearest hallway. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Draco's wasted attempt.

"Think something's funny, mudblood?" Draco sneered at her.

"That's getting rather old, Malfoy. And yes I do, I finally realized that you get off on making girls burst into tears." Hermione turned and stared Malfoy down. His gaze darkened with anger, it might simply be because of her statement or it might be the fact that she knew he hadn't eliminated her from his list. She would have been right with her first guess. Draco hadn't even considered her; he hadn't wanted to entertain the possibility until the last minute.

"Firstly, it will never get old, and secondly you're way off base. Look at that, you've lost your know-it-all title in one statement. And look, no one cares." Malfoy quietly hissed out that last part. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled from beside him.

"Isn't it degrading, knowing that these two buffoons are the only ones who find you entertaining, ferret?" Goyle took a step in Hermione's direction but Malfoy raised a hand to stop him, clearly wanting to take a bit of his anger out on the girl in front of him.

"Isn't it degrading, knowing you're two puppy dogs don't even spare a second glance your way? From what I've heard, there off snogging while you do all their class work. It's all your good for anyways." Hermione pursed her lips at that.

"Maybe you should follow their lead; it's the only way you'll ever get an equal mark with me in class. Maybe your father will finally be proud of you." Hermione got an evil look in her eyes; he had set her up perfectly for that one. Draco's eyes burned with a fire behind them at that last statement. She had no idea how much of a nerve she had just hit.

"At least I deserve my magic. You'll never be able to prove to the world that your worthy of yours. Everyone will always think of you as lesser." Draco leaned in and hissed quietly at her, a small evil smile overtaking his face when Hermione's face dropped. She wasn't the only one who knew how to hit a nerve and these two clearly knew each others weaknesses.

"I'd rather have to prove my worth with actual skill then simply buying everyone's opinion because you don't have the skill to back up your words."

"You seem to forget that I'm top of the class."

"Right behind me, always chasing me, never leading." Hermione let the words out without realizing the double meaning. A flash of something crossed Draco's face but Hermione kept her expression composed. Crabbe and Goyle were standing close to her at this point, Goyle with his fist clenched at his side, Crabbe popping his knuckles. "What? No response to that, Malfoy? Clearly my wit is superior."

Before she knew what had happened, a set of thick hands had pushed against her chest and she was tumbling down the staircase. Draco looked on and noticed a flurry of large black feathers trailing after the falling witch. Hermione let out a scream of pain when her back hit the stair at one point and she was crying out in pain when her body was finally stopped by the wall at the end of the staircase. Draco looked down in shock. Her actions for the last few months clicked into place and he felt so stupid that he hadn't realized who it was sooner.

"Crabbe, Goyle, go down to the kitchens." The two looked at him for a moment and he simply gave them a glare before they scurried off, muttering about what they would get the house elves to make them this time. As soon as they were out of sight, Draco rushed down the staircase and knelt next to Hermione who had tears streaming down her face.

"Shit, I didn't know, Granger." Draco hesitantly reached a hand forward toward where he though her wing should be joined at her back and was surprised when Hermione yelped when he came into contact with something that was definitely feathered.

"Do you know any healing spells?" Hermione got out between clenched teeth.

"No, I can take you to the Hospital wing – "

"NO! No one else knows. They'll kick me out of school." Hermione yelled at Draco. Hermione tried to sit up but quickly collapsed due to the pain. "I think the left one is broken."

"I might not know any healing spells but I might be able to brew a potion for you." Draco wasn't sure why exactly he was helping his one-time enemy. It was possibly because she had been arguably his closest friend over the last months. Hermione looked up and nodded. "Can you walk?"

Hermione was able to get up, this time with Draco's help, and walk but her broken wing dragged on the ground and caused her more pain. She was leaning on him when he let out a frustrated breath. Draco quickly leaned down and scooped her legs up so that he was carrying her. Her head was toward his left shoulder and she had her right wing wrapped around his back. She quickly understood what he was going for and reached her left arm around, wincing as she moved her injured wing so that it wouldn't drag on the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

"We better not get seen." Draco muttered as he carried her down a hallway and ducked behind a tapestry that revealed a corridor that Hermione recognized from the Marauders' Map. Draco glanced over at one point and noticed Hermione biting her lip to prevent from crying out in pain. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Making noise helps with pain tolerance. And contrary to what you think, I don't get off on making girls burst into tears." Hermione let out a short burst of laughter before whimpering in pain. "On a scale of one to ten –"

"Ten." Hermione got out through gritted teeth in response to his question. Unfortunately she wasn't able to recognize the fact that Draco was using muggle medical techniques due to her pain level. Draco slowed down and tried to keep from jostling her as much as possible after that.

"I was going to ask how entertained you were watching me these last few months try to figure out who you were." Draco turned down a hallway and Hermione noticed they were in the dungeons now, clearly in a section that had little use considering the fact that there appeared to be puddles of water in corners.

"My answer stands." She quickly said and yelled out as Draco readjusted his grip on her.

"Sorry." He muttered quietly. He turned and reached forward, fighting to keep her in his arms as he opened a door to what appeared to be an old classroom, though it seemed to be used to store old classroom furniture now. It also had stacks of old textbooks as well as a large bookshelf with reference material. Draco helped lay Hermione down on her stomach on one of the larger tables and then started pushing desks next to it, vanishing chairs as necessary. He had about four together before he walked up to her and hesitantly reached out while frowning.

Hermione was watching him and realized he wanted to adjust her wing but clearly was unsure of where it was. She reached into her robe and found her wand, thankfully still intact after her tumble. She pulled it out and pointed at her back before muttering the counter spell to the complicated concealment charm she had learned a few years back. She saw Draco's jaw drop slightly as he was finally able to fully take in her wings. They truly were massive and he had no idea how she had been able to hide these from her classmates for years.

Draco pushed those thoughts to the side for a moment and went back to his original goal. He reached forward and gently gripped her left wing.

"This is going to hurt." He said before he moved her wing to spread across the tables he had pushed together. Hermione yelled loudly while he did this and started whimpering as soon as he set her wing down. "Take off your tie, Granger." Draco quickly scanned the room and found that he didn't see what he needed. He grabbed one of the stools and hit it hard against a table on the other side of the room, causing Hermione to jump and then wince at the pain she had caused herself. Draco took the leg he had just broken off the stool and set it on the ground before pulling his wand out and transfiguring it into the shape and size he needed. He picked it up and set it on top of Hermione's wing. He undid the knot on his tie and used it first to secure her wing to the splint he had made. He grabbed her tie next and then took his robe off, quickly ripping several long pieces off to use to firmly secure the wing.

"How?" Hermione asked quietly as Draco worked quickly.

"The family owls would fly into trees. I fixed them so Father wouldn't dispose of them when he realized they were injured. I turned a section of my room into an aviary of sorts. Even convinced a house elf to spell it so the smell wouldn't alert my parents." Draco stayed focused on his work. He seemed to be satisfied with the splint and then walked over to the bookshelf, scanning for healing potions. He pulled out a few books and quickly flipped through them.

"What exactly are you?" Draco asked while still scanning through the book.

"I have absolutely no idea." Hermione said with a sigh.

"That's just bloody perfect. Of course this is the one thing you don't know." Draco shut the book that had proved useless and opened the next one. He was scanning through healing potion instructions, trying to find something that would work for a mammal with avian wings. This book did seem to be more helpful and eventually he found something that looked promising but he cursed when he looked at the instructions.

"I'm not skilled enough to brew this." He looked up and stared at Hermione for a moment before setting the book on the counter. He raised his wand at Hermione and muttered something that causes her hair to change color. "I'll be right back."

"Wait, Malfoy! Where are you going?" Hermione called over her shoulder but he'd already gone. Draco ran down the hall to his godfather's office, hoping he was lucky and that Snape would actually be in there for once. Fortunately he was lucky and found Snape there. Draco was out of breath and disheveled when he entered the office.

"I need your help." He said to his professor.

"You are finally willing to admit that you can't perform your task without my assistance?" Draco scowled.

"No, I found an injured student and her injury won't allow me to take her to the hospital wing. You can't tell the headmaster either." Snape narrowed his eyes but sighed and followed Draco down the hallway until they reached the classroom that Draco had left Hermione in. He opened the door and was greeted with Hermione yelling at him.

"You're a right prick, Malfoy. Just leaving me here without telling me where you were going. If you got a professor I'm going to personally kill you."

"Then I better prepare for a painful death." Draco muttered as Snape followed him in the room and looked over the splinted wing. "I found a potion that will probably work to heal her but I can't brew it and it will take a month."

The professor walked over and looked at the open book and nodded. "I will have to come up with a reason for Miss. Granger to be missing her classes for a month." Draco looked over at his professor who simply raised his eyes before removing the simple glamour charm. "We can convert this room into a temporary living area for the next month and you will brew the potion here. I only see the one step that you will need help with."

"Professor, please don't tell the headmaster about my condition. Who knows what would happen if the ministry found out about this." Hermione looked up at him and begged.

"I'll have to inform the headmaster as to the fact that you will be missing from your classes due to an injury. However, considering who you are, I'm sure he'll make an exception and accept your request to be healed outside of the infirmary." Snape addressed Hermione before turning back to his godson and giving him a look that clearly asked if he was certain in his actions. Draco nodded and Snape gestured for him to follow him. Draco took the textbook and followed Snape down the hallway to a storeroom. He quickly handed Draco the various ingredients that would be needed and dismissed him so that Snape could inform Dumbledore of the current predicament, or at least parts of the predicament. Unfortunately, Snape knew that Dumbledore would trust the Gryffindor and wouldn't question why she was suddenly trusting Draco Malfoy to heal her.

Of course, even Snape wasn't sure why Draco was considering taking care of the girl he had relentlessly tried to 'put in her place' for his entire school career.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Draco returned to the room and set up a brewing station in front of Hermione. For some reason he knew she would want to watch what he was doing and he knew it wasn't because she didn't trust him. He prepped the ingredients and talked to himself quietly as he was slicing and grinding various things, reminding himself what each were used for as well as why they would work for their intended purpose. Hermione caught all of what he was saying and was impressed by his knowledge. He clearly earned his 'O' in potions, even when Snape was the professor. She would bet that his godfather had done extra work with him during the summers in hope that he might one day also become a potions master.

It didn't take long for the room to heat up and Draco moved to roll his sleeves up but hesitated as soon as he unbuttoned his left one. He was too relaxed around this girl and knew he would probably slip up eventually but he was going to push that off for as long as possible. He quickly reached for his wand and cast a cooling spell on the room instead, hoping that the rather intelligent witch in front of him had missed his slip.

She hadn't though and closed her eyes for a moment, glad at the moment that she wouldn't be talking to Harry for the next month. She didn't want to be able to confirm Harry's suspicions that Draco was in fact a death eater.

"Can I take a pain potion at least?" Hermione asked, hoping to ease Draco's mind for some reason. Draco looked up and nodded quietly before walking back over to the bookshelf and grabbing another book before flipping through it quickly. He found what he was looking for and luckily was at a simmering point for the first potion. He set up a second brewing station next to the first and looked over the ingredients.

"I'll be back. I need to go raid Snape's storage room."

"Won't he get mad?" Hermione asked to which Draco smirked.

"As long as I tell him what I took afterwards so he can replenish it, he'll let me take whatever I want." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Clearly I should have befriended you years ago. I've had to engineer distractions for years." Draco raised an eyebrow before vowing to question her later on what she had managed to steal from his godfather, simply so he could tell Snape later he assured himself. He turned and left the room quickly making it to the store room and gathering what he needed before going back to the room that he would be going to every night now to check on the injured witch, or whatever she was, that was in his care. He made his way back and started brewing the simple potion rather quickly. This was one he could do with his eyes shut.

"So, how hard is it to accept that you've enjoyed your time with me more than your time with your fellow Slytherins?" Hermione asked in a teasing tone a short while later, clearly realizing that Draco didn't need to focus on this potion nearly as much as the other one.

"I'll tell you when it happens." Hermione snorted quietly from her spot on the table. "What I'd like to know is how you hid those massive things from everyone." He gestured to her wings and Hermione bit her lip.

"They haven't always been this big. They didn't start growing until the summer before third year. I think you remember me wearing that backpack all the time? Well, at the time, they were small enough to fit inside that. Unfortunately they grew out of the backpack halfway through fourth year and I had to figure out a few charms to help with hiding them. I have a concealment mixed with a confundus charm on them." Hermione explained. Draco nodded remembering that hideous backpack that she never took off and had in addition to her book back. He thought she was just carrying more books around at the time.

"A confundus?" Draco asked, he understood the concealment charm but couldn't remember being confused when her wings had touched him today.

"When people bump into them, they simply think they bumped into my shoulder or something. Remember when you pushed past me in the library weeks ago? I actually knocked my wing into your shoulder. You didn't spare a second thought though." Hermione smiled triumphantly at the memory.

"Well, I was a bit distracted."

"Admit that you thought it was my shoulder."

"I'll do nothing of the sort." Draco stated firmly back, busying himself with bottling the finished healing potion. Hermione merely laughed to herself. Draco walked over and handed her the potion which she quickly downed. Hermione sighed in relief as a wave of relaxation hit her body. Draco watched, waiting for any signs that the potion didn't work with her anatomy but found none. Draco cleaned up the first station and readied it for when he would need to brew another batch of the pain relief potion. He moved back to the first potion and looked it over, prepping what he could for the next steps. It would have to sit and simmer for nearly a week before he could do anything else though.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Both students looked over at the door as Snape entered. Draco gave a nod of acknowledgment while Hermione simply watched him. Snape remained by the door and looked over the room, he was surprised that neither student was further injured due to the proximity of the two to each other.

"The headmaster has been made aware of the situation. Mr. Malfoy, seeing as you are second in the class, it was determined that you would take notes for Miss. Granger along with delivering her assignments. Also, seeing as you are in the dungeons, Miss. Granger, you will be attending your potions laboratories. Seeing as you two share that class, Mr. Malfoy will be dismissed fifteen minutes before the end of his previous class so that he can help escort you to the classroom. He will also be excused for the first fifteen minutes of the following class. Fortunately your classmates will get to enjoy the absence of your incessant quest to prove yourself in all your other courses, seeing as they would take too much effort for you to get to." Hermione frowned but nodded at her professor. He drew his wand and transfigured the tables she was laying on into a very wide bed. He walked over to the potion Draco was brewing and looked it over before gliding out of the room.

"If I didn't know better, I would swear that his feet don't even touch the ground when he walks." Hermione said as he left. Draco raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"He's a bat, not a vampire, Granger. Don't mix the two up." Hermione looked up in shock that Draco had just insulted his favorite professor. He stared her down before his mouth betrayed him and the corner twitched upward in a small smile causing Hermione to burst out in laughter.

"Did you seriously just insult Professor Snape?" Hermione asked when she was able to breathe again.

"No worse than my father does. You should hear them when they get going. It's rather entertaining."

"Hmmm, care to share?" Hermione propped her chin up in on her hands while Draco sat in a chair in front of her.

"What? So that you could share them with the dimwitted duo to use against me and my godfather? No thanks." Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

"What makes you think that I would ever betray your trust?" Hermione asked in a sickly sweet voice that Draco shook his head at.

"Don't do that, you sound like Pansy." Hermione stuck her tongue out in disgust at that and Draco actually let out a laugh. "Alright, I can't do anything else tonight. Do you have your transfiguration essay to turn in?"

"Yeah, it's in my bag which… is back on the staircase where I was pushed." Hermione frowned in realization.

"I'll go get it and bring it back tomorrow night. I'll be by around –"

"10:15?" Hermione answered for him. Draco rolled his eyes but nodded before walking to the bookshelf and grabbing a few books before dropping them on the bed next to Granger.

"I'm going to assume you haven't read these, they're rather advanced, and you will probably struggle through them." Draco smirked down at his newfound and unlikely friend. Hermione rolled her eyes but got a determined look in her eyes before grabbing the book on the top of the stack and cracking it open. Draco walked out of the room and quickly made his way up the main staircase to where Hermione's bag had been left. He glanced around the area and found that everything had indeed stayed within the bag. He glanced down at his watch and noticed it was already nearly ten at night so he didn't have time to go up to work on the cabinet tonight, taking care of Granger had taken several hours. Draco frowned but turned down toward the dungeons anyways, carrying two school bags as he went to his dorm and got ready for the night.

Hermione, meanwhile, was taking a break from _Most Potente Potions_, a book she had gone through before though it had been quite some time. She did enjoy it though, and Draco clearly didn't know that but he had made a good choice. She was currently pondering why she had suddenly decided to trust a death eater and an order spy who was as slippery as the greasy hair on top of his head. Snape she could understand to a certain point, he was good at concealing information. Or she thought he was at least from what Harry had told her of Snape's past.

Draco Malfoy on the other hand, had been her tormenter for years and she had vowed to never reveal her identity to him when they had been flying. But today, he had revealed another side of himself to her. He had opened up and revealed information about himself that she could potentially use against him in the future. Clearly he trusted her for some reason. Was this some Slytherin ploy, falsely convince someone that you trusted them so that they would trust you. It didn't seem like the smartest one out there but it did seem to work. Hermione was also limited in her options on who to have heal her broken wing. It would appear that Draco Malfoy was temporarily a mediwizard.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental. All quotes from the Harry Potter series are indicated with bold text.

* * *

Draco woke up early the next morning. Apparently going to bed before midnight was good for the system, who'd have thought. Draco enjoyed getting to use the shower before his dorm mates and then getting the opportunity to rummage through Hermione's bag for the assignments that were due today. The bloody witch was incredibly organized and had a folder for completed assignments sorted by submission order. He briefly glanced through the rest of her bag and noticed a case for quills along with a wooden box for ink. He didn't see her textbooks in the main compartment and rolled his eyes when he opened the front pouch. He couldn't deny that she was talented. She had cast an undetectable enlargement charm on the pouch along with a featherweight charm on the bag and had all her textbooks from every year along with various library books in the pouch. Draco glanced up when he noticed one of his roommates finally stirring. He quickly took Hermione's completed folder and slid it in his bag next to his own completed assignments folder. He then shoved her bag under his bed and cast a quick concealment charm on it.

Draco made his way through his day quite easily. Luckily McGonagoll didn't question the fact that he handed her two sheets of parchment during class and he simply had to turn their arithmancy and ancient runes work into their respective boxes before those classes started. There were murmurs about the fact that Granger wasn't in class and various theories. The dimwitted duo were clearly stumped and stated as much to anyone who asked, though most students asked Potter and not Weasley. Luckily Draco only had to suffer through their presence for Transfiguration considering he didn't continue with divination and those idiots weren't in advanced arithmancy or ancient runes.

Draco attempted to take better notes than normal in his classes though. He wasn't sure exactly what Granger would want for notes but it seemed like she wasn't as anal as he thought. Well, she was as anal as he was so it actually didn't bother him in the slightest.

Draco went down to the dungeons after dinner to check on the potion and the invalid. As he was entering the room he saw Hermione chatting animatedly with a house elf that seemed to have a dozen knitted hats piled on its head. The elf took a glance at Draco before suddenly popping away. Hermione looked taken aback until she realized that Draco had entered the room. He looked her over and noticed she was dressed in flannel pants and a crimson shirt.

"Did you have to scare Dobby away?" Hermione looked at Draco with anger.

"Dobby? You must be mistaken, Dobby is a Malfoy elf." Draco said as he set down his school bag on a desk near Hermione and set hers on the bed. He walked over and inspected the potion.

"Not anymore, he was freed by your father back in our second year." Draco shook his head.

"It's more likely that my father killed Dobby."

"Nope, Harry tricked Lucius into giving Dobby a sock." Draco looked over at Hermione with disbelief.

"You're joking."

"Nope, you're father was beyond furious. He even drew his wand and went to hex Harry but Dobby defended Harry."

"A house elf beat my father in a duel. I wonder what my mother had to do to get him off that."

"What do you mean?"

"Mother is constantly finding new ways to distract my Father for when he comes home upset about something. Some tactics are more elaborate than others but there's a reason she was in Slytherin." Draco smirked, remembering how his mother would brag to her husband about something Draco had done to ease Lucius out of his anger. She had a clear talent. Draco shook his head slightly, bringing himself back to the current situation. Pleased with the potion, Draco made his way back to the desk where he had dropped his bag and pulled out the class notes. He duplicated them and handed the duplicates to Hermione.

"I honestly expected you later, Malfoy." Hermione said when she glanced up from the notes, not complaining about them at all. It was only seven, she did have a point. Draco had honestly forgotten about his task for twenty four hours and was focused on taking care of her. This clearly was a bad path to follow in his current situation.

"Yes, well, I needed to check on the potion."

"Clearly, can you hand me one of the pain relief potion?" Draco stood and grabbed it for her. She gulped it down in one go and looked much more relaxed afterwards. "You're lucky I have a relationship with the elves, considering you didn't even think about me needing to eat."

Draco looked up and silently cursed himself for letting that little bit slip but just shrugged. Hermione narrowed her eyes, not out of anger but as if trying to piece together a puzzle. Draco sat back down at his desk and started working on his course work while Hermione went over the notes for the day. She would occasionally ask a question or she would take out a textbook and review a particular section. Draco answered whatever she asked with a minimum number of sarcastic comments. Hermione was surprised by how good his notes were though they seemed to be lacking in arithmancy. She went to do the assignment and found that there were steps he had jumped over or he had taken a route that she hadn't seen previously but which appeared to be much quicker.

"Hey Malfoy, would you explain this bit about derivatives?" Draco looked up and went over to see what she was talking about before groaning. He had used the shortcut in his notes without even thinking when they hadn't reached that point yet. He honestly had taken minimal notes in arithmancy considering he was nearly two years ahead of the class at least. The class was using limits to take derivatives and that method was one of the most painful he had ever encountered. He knew how to do it but wanted to strangle the teacher for dragging this portion of the course out for nearly a month. The professor hadn't even complained when he had skimped on his homework and used the shortcut method.

"Here, why don't we just start on the assignment and I'll explain what I did in comparison to what the professor keeps making us do."

"But the professor clearly wants it done this way." Hermione protested.

"No, she wants you to get to the right answer. If you're using the advanced method that saves time, she won't mind." Draco pulled a rolling chalkboard over to their area and opened his book to the assignment, he did the first problem his way and then the professor's way before fully explaining the shortcut he took. Hermione was livid when she realized exactly what he had explained.

"You're telling me I've been memorizing this for no reason?" Hermione got out.

"Precisely, they proved this shit a long time ago and there is absolutely no point in Vector dragging out this section. She should have taught us this method after a day. You will never need to use the old method in life." Hermione growled which caused Draco to take a step back.

"Do another." Hermione growled out before pulling out her own notebook to take notes on the shortcuts. Draco did the rest of the assignment on the board using the shortcuts and Hermione caught on quickly. He transferred the assignment to parchment once they had finished. The rest of the night went by quietly. Draco left shortly after curfew and gave Hermione a pain relief potion to have within reach for the following morning.

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AN 4/17/15: Alright, that's all I have for now on this story, I will update once I get the next chapter ready. We'll see Hermione in potions lab and Harry and Ron making a fuss about Draco being her partner. Let me know what you think.


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